Date: 18 May
Time: 2 p.m.
Venue: Department of Engineering and Management’s Meeting Room, Técnico – Alameda campus and Online
More information: Official Website

«The Centre for Management Studies of Instituto Superior Técnico (CEGIST) is pleased to announce the seminar “Political Leadership and Grand Societal Challenges: The Role of Management Skills” by Gustavo Cordeiro (NOVA-SBE), as part of CEGIST’s seminar series.

The seminar will take place on 18 May at 2 p.m., in hybrid format: in person, at the Alameda Campus of Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, in the Department of Engineering and Management’s Meeting Room and online via Zoom.

Do management skills matter when wielded by elected officials?

Using close mayoral elections in Brazil between 2004 and 2020 and birth records covering all 5,570 Brazilian municipalities, Gustavo Cordeiro and co-authors show that mayors with formal management training significantly reduce the incidence of low birthweight.

The effect runs through better access to federal transfers, higher primary healthcare investment, and the expansion of local healthcare capacity, including physicians, nurses, and community health agents. The paper extends strategic management theory beyond the firm, casting managerial skills among political leaders and their senior appointees as strategic assets for tackling grand societal challenges.

CEGIST seminars are free to attend and open to the public.»